AAP's Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain summoned in construction scam case

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3 days ago

The Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Delhi government on Tuesday summoned Aam Aadmi Party leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in connection with an alleged scam in the construction of schools and classrooms in the national capital, The Indian Express reported.
On April 30, the anti-corruption branch had filed a case against Sisodia and Jain in the alleged scam, which pertains to the construction of 12,748 classrooms in Delhi government schools at an inflated cost.
While Jain was summoned on June 6, Sisodia was asked to visit the bureau office on June 9, India Today reported.
After the summonses were issued, AAP said that the alleged scam was a 'calculated political ploy' by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
'They are weaponising institutions to attack AAP leaders and create a false narrative,' The Indian Express quoted the party as saying. 'When the Aam Aadmi Party held power in Delhi, the BJP systematically defanged the ACB [Anti-Corruption Bureau] to strip it of any real authority.'
The BJP was 'using the same weakened institution as a tool to target AAP leaders and further their own agenda', the statement added.
In 2019, BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Harish Khurana and Neelkant Bakshi had filed a complaint claiming that there were financial irregularities in the construction of classrooms in government schools in three zones of the national capital, according to The Indian Express.
While Sisodia held the finance and education ministries at the time, Jain was in charge of the public works department, which oversaw the construction.
The complaint stated that the construction cost was about Rs 24.8 lakh per room, higher than the roughly Rs 5 lakh it took for similar constructions in the national capital. The project was awarded to 34 contractors, several of them linked to the AAP, it claimed.
The newspaper also quoted unidentified Anti-Corruption Bureau officials as saying that the 12,748 semi-permanent structures were supposed to be built at a cost of Rs 1,200 per sq ft. However, the cost increased to about Rs 2,292 per sq ft during construction, the officials added.
An audit by the Central Vigilance Commission found that 63 tenders were floated and awarded at Rs 860 crore, The Indian Express had reported earlier. Deviations from the awarded amount 'to the tune of 17% to 90%' were observed, resulting in 'escalation of cost up to Rs 326.2 crore'.
Work amounting to Rs 42.5 crore was allegedly 'executed without proper tender through the existing contract of another school' and 1,214 toilet blocks were built with 'extra expenditure of Rs 37 crore', the newspaper had reported.
Madhur Verma, joint commissioner of police, had earlier confirmed the filing of the FIR, The Indian Express reported.
'The chief technical examiner's report of the Central Vigilance Commission pointed out several anomalies in the project, and the report was kept under the carpet for about three years,' the newspaper quoted him as having said.
In 2022, the vigilance directorate of the Delhi government recommended an investigation into the alleged scam and submitted a report to the chief secretary.
On March 13, the Union home ministry granted sanction to prosecute Sisodia and Jain under the Prevention of Corruption Act in connection with the alleged scam.
President Droupadi Murmu had also approved the registration of an FIR against the two Aam Aadmi Party leaders.
Sisodia had in March rejected the allegations, saying that he and other AAP leaders including Jain, Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi would 'not bow down' before the BJP.